Bonackers Compete At Small Schools Indoor Track Championships

East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton boys and girls indoor track head coaches Ben Turnbull and Yani Cuesta both admitted that the Small Schools Championships that were held Saturday and Sunday at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood weren’t either team’s greatest moments of the season.

The girls, who competed on Sunday, brought a rather large contingent of athletes, which is good for a young team, but as Cuesta noted, it was the first time in a quite a while that they were unable to score a single point. The 4x200-meter relay team of Khalila Martin, Dylan Cashin, Melina Sarlo and Ryleigh O’Donnell had the best placement of the day for the team, finishing seventh in 4:38.49.

O’Donnell placed eighth in the 1,500-meter race in 5:11.05 and Cuesta said she has the best shot out of all of her athletes to advance to the state qualifier, which is back at Suffolk-Brentwood this upcoming Monday night. Cashin placed ninth in the 3,000-meter race in 11:29.62 and she has an outside shot of joining O’Donnell at state quals. Briana Chavez ran in the same race and finished in 12:26.65, a personal best and the only personal best the team recorded on the day.

Chavez, Alexa Gomez, Riley Miles and Emma Tepan placed 12th in the 4x800-meter relay in 11:46.91. Sarlo finished 14th in the shot put with a throw of 25 feet 11 ½ inches and finished 22nd in the long jump with a leap of 12 feet 2 ¼ inches. Miles finished 21st in the 600-meter run in 1:56.12 and Casey Stumpf finished 22nd in the triple jump with a mark at 27 feet 7 ½ inches. Martin competed in the high jump but was unable to clear the opening height of 4 feet 3 inches.

The boys were represented by two runners at their meet on Saturday. P.J. Ramundo finished eighth overall in the 3,200-meter race in 10:34. Brayan Rivera finished 12th in the 1,600-meter race in 4:55. Turnbull said Ramundo has an outside shot at advancing to stat quals.